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Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Dump the Danfoss

(this is a two port, that I will fit on the circuitin the loft, and I will remove the unreliable3-port that lives above the heat pump)

6 Mar 2012: I am so annoyed that the Danfoss solenoid valve wasn't working again this morning. Once I 'helped it' by pushing the lever in the morning, it seemed to work for the rest of the day. But it's no longer reliable, and needs a daily push start like a worn out car. A failure after less than two years is very disappointing. A system like this should be able to work consistently for some years, reliably. I have a spare actuator, although it will be temporarily fitted, as I don't want the replacement going after less than 2 years.
During some slightly boring bits of the Nottingham Forest v Doncaster match in which we saw them losing 2-1, my mind wandered off and I realised that if I dump it and replace with a non-return valve (that I took out in May 2010), the system will work more reliably - one fewer electrical part to go wrong.
It will be back to the "trickle while we work" plumbing mode - more appropriate to future installations in other houses.
The really big Plus would be that the future installation of the Kingspan Evacuated tubes is suddenly made a lot cheaper and quicker. The saving in plumber's time will be huge because no pipe will be required to come down through the house to the heat pump. The tubes circuit can attach to the pipes in the loft. They will simply require a 2-port Valve for each circuit, and it will be a Honeywell or another make. I might be able to make use of the existing two dummy ports in the loft circuit.
I will work up a revised circuit diagram of the simpler solution.
It just goes to show..... Sometimes, you think of the best ideas when you are meant to be doing something else!

15 June 2014: It has been a dry June so far with negligible rain. I'm glad to have 300litres of water storage for the garden. House ...

Peveril Solar House

Welcome to Charging the Earth!

PEVERIL SOLAR is the first house in the UK to be entirely solar heated all year round! It is Carbon Net-Zero. It is an 'Active House' balancing inputs and outputs. PV generation and heating system consumption are in favourable balance using concepts of energy storage. Others claiming houses to be the first date from 2013 (and are unbuilt); this house exists and was carbon zero since 2011.

The name 'Charging' refers to 'storing energy underground': we have custom-built solar collectors, Surya Sunboxes, with ETFE front surfaces, to pump solar heat deep down into the earth. The building's heat pump gets all of this back in Realtime (immediately), Diurnially (later during the evenings) or Interseasonally (in Winter, months after the Summer).

Thus, we are augmenting the heatpump by storing long term heat in the summer, and we are defrosting the ground in winter-spring conditions, supplying solar energy directly to the heat pump, through its ground loop.

The five-way pentangle of Grid, Borehole, Heat pump, PV roof and Sunboxes have made the house Carbon Zero (for metered consumption). It's working, and we will continue to record data, to maintain that efficiency, and write it up in this website through to next year and beyond.

During theAutumn of 2012, we built a small house extension that is ultra insulated, with a higher energy gain than it loses.

Note, that we still have a net import of power from the Grid, because we still need power for lighting, cooking and appliances. But for the building emissions (as opposed to lifestyle emissions), we have achieved a credit balance of the regulated quantities, as recorded by meters.

The web-log follows the project from this general idea in Aug. 2009 to a technology of Surya Sunboxes, which seem to be effective - reducing energy costs of the house. Some of the Tabs will help you to get background and theory. You can click below to 'Follow Blog' to get email notifications - or email me. Please add Comments to the blog entries. If you find items in the Glossary that need explaining better, please ask. Thankyou!

Publications

Equipment sponsor

Kingspan, for Varisol Tubes

Equipment Sponsor

MG Renewables

Equipment sponsor

Ice Energy Heat Pumps

Equipment Sponsor

Holscot, for ETFE panels, re-fronting the Sunbox

About the Author...

David Nicholson-Cole is a Lecturer in Architecture at the University of Nottingham, with 35 years experience of architectural teaching and practice, which has included special interests in construction, building information modelling, tall building design and renewable energy technologies.

Finally, thanks to my deceased aunt, Margaret Cringle (1915-2008) whose legacy paid for most of the cost of this project - as one who was always turning lights out to save electricity, she would be very pleased!